Numerical Simulation of Particle Flow in a Sand Trap

TL;DR

This paper uses numerical simulations to analyze how sand traps, specifically hollow cylinders with slits, influence wind flow and their efficiency in measuring Aeolian flux under various conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic numerical approach to study the flow field and trapping efficiency of sand traps considering multiple environmental parameters.

Findings

Flow field is significantly affected by wind speed and saltation height.

Trap efficiency varies with membrane permeability and Stokes number.

Simulation results help optimize sand trap design for accurate Aeolian flux measurement.

Abstract

Sand traps are used to measure Aeolian flux. Since they modify the surrounding wind velocity field their gauging represents an important challenge. We use numerical simulations under the assumption of homogeneous turbulence based on FLUENT to systematically study the flow field and trapping efficiency of one of the most common devices based on a hollow cylinder with two slits. In particular, we investigate the dependence on the wind speed, the Stokes number, the permeability of the membrane on the slit and the saltation height.